This past Christmas I decided that it was time to let my 2000 4Runner go. Was originally looking at three replacements: 1. 2014 Tacoma 2. 2014 Prius C 3. an older used Prius After debating that I didn't want another car payment, I decided to go with the third option. Looked around a bit and found a 2004 gold colored Prius with 110k miles on the clock. Two owners, first was a company (so the car was a company car), and the second was a private owner. Since I brought her home, I have done tons of maintenance on it: - Oil and oil filter (light in color on the stick, dark coming out) - Air and cabin filter (cabin filter was dirty, air filter was nominal, but changed it anyway) - Transmission fluid drain and fill (dark coming out) - PCV valve (old jiggled like new, replaced anyway) - MAF cleaning (wires were covered in crap) - Spark plugs (appeared to be older) - 12V Optima battery (old one might have been the original that came with the car, no build date. Optima had a build date of 11/14) - changed out a bunch of the older bulbs with LEDs Couple things that still need to be done at a later date: - ICE coolant change - Inverter coolant change - newer tires - alignment - condensation in passenger headlight In the approximately three weeks I've owned the Prius, I can say that it is a nice car. Small on the outside, big on the inside. Completely blew my expectations for a hybrid away. Filled up the other day at $2.45/gallon for a total of $12. My 4Runner would've been about $35. At the height of gas prices, was regularly over $50 per fill-up. In the 4 years I owned the 4Runner, spent about $11k in gas alone. With the Prius, I'm expecting huge gas savings. Probably enough to buy a brand new HV battery when it decides to go out. I have a feeling I'm going to be here a long time.
Nice progress on your preventive maintenance tasks. The factory Toyota Super Long Life coolant is supposed to be replaced at 100K miles, BTW. Then, at 50K mile intervals for subsequent changes. If the old 12V battery was made by GS Yuasa, the date code would be on a label placed on the top, near the middle. The date is expressed in DDMMYY format.
Yeah, I had to return the old battery for a core charge refund. But that thing looked puny and outdated. Interestingly, it was either Optima or the dealer for a battery, and that was it. I was kind of hoping that DieHard made a battery for the Prius too, but no such luck.
there are now four or five replacement batteries. congrats on your '04, my neighbor has my old one with 135k, the think is like new and never had anything done to it except a complete rebuild after hitting a deer. the '04's are built like tanks.
